The Need For Speed: Velocity
Written by Hope

It's rare to watch a given episode of any show and see the sheer joy and pleasure the screenwriters had creating the script, but it's evident that screenwriters Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer had the time of their lives writing "Velocity." In spite of a few plotting missteps and some rather, erm, interesting internal logic, that unrestrained pleasure made "Velocity" a great hour of television.

I'll start with the errors, just because they were there, and they bear mentioning. I suspect that this script ran a little long, because there were several places where the script was imbalanced.

Lana and Adam's storyline anchored the opening and closing of the episode, but it felt as though there were some median scene that got cut. Storylines like that are usually "three act" storylines, especially in Slavkin & Swimmer's scripts. You can compare it to the Lex and Helen subplot in "Visage" (which they also wrote) because it's exactly the same thing. Lana and Adam, like Lex and Helen in "Visage" had to convert from one emotional point to another closer to the opposite end of the spectrum, and that works best in three steps. (Unless somebody higher up butchers a perfectly good three-act conversion like they did in "Visage," but I've already ranted about that.) I suspect there was another Lana and Adam scene somewhere around the end of Act II that just never made it to the screen, and the lack of that transition felt jarring.

Likewise, Chloe's conversation with Clark came out of the blue, and even though Chloe expressed specific intent toward action in that scene (to talk to Pete about this), we never saw it. I can understand why it would have been cut- there really wasn't room in this script for Chloe and Pete to have a scene that didn't directly forward the A story, but its lack was still felt just because the signs pointing to it were so boldly marked.

One area in which Slavkin & Swimmer have improved, though they still need a bit of work, is dialogue. Their conversation sequences are getting more natural over time, but they still throw in clunker lines that just work hard instead of work smart. Chloe's dance of exposition was especially weak, and so was Lana's in revealing Adam Knight's secret history as a dead boy named Chad Nash. The scenes got the job done, but they could have done it a little more organically.

Though I enjoyed the scene with Clark and Sheriff Adams (I'll be honest with you, I get the biggest kick out of Sheriff Adams; I love her disdain and colorful language), that scene exposed a flaw in the logic of the plot: Clark and Martha nearly get creamed by the drag racers, so Clark follows them to an extremely well-lit and very crowded drag party. There have been deaths as a result of the drag racing in Smallville in the last few months. The sheriff knows that Dante is the mastermind behind the drag racing scene in Smallville. And hello, Smallville is a small enough town that a courier can find Clark at the hospital to deliver a package from Dr. Swann; there's absolutely no reason why Sheriff Adams could not have done exactly what Clark did- namely follow the flaming bright neon cars back to the drag races, and arrest them for *that*. She didn't need Clark to bring the rain, she just needed to take her squad car out to where all the neon lights were and wait for somebody to roll in at 100 miles an hour. In short, this story never should have been able to happen.

Yet, it did, and now I'm done talking about the bad, because the good seriously outweighs it. It seems that Slavkin & Swimmer are really, truly devoted and interested in Pete and Clark's relationship because, well, they're the only ones who write about it. They wrote "Duplicity," they wrote the story for "Accelerate" (Peterson & Souders wrote the teleplay),
showing us Pete and Clark working together on the Emily Dinsmore problem. They wrote "Rush," and let Pete and RedK Clark get into all kinds of mischief together. They wrote "Extinction," where Pete and Clark work together on the Van McNulty problem. Slavkin & Swimmer are truly invested in Pete and Clark's friendship, and every issue that Pete and Clark hashed out in "Velocity" built on the foundation that *they* created. They care
about Pete's inner-life and life off-screen, and they make informed, logical character decisions for him- the way they created this story, it made sense that Pete would be out joyriding in kryptonite powered cars; they gave him an excellent motivation for that.

What I especially like about Slavkin & Swimmer's scripts is that they're not afraid to raise the stakes. They build to mini-climaxes within the script, Clark tells Pete he'll fix this, and there's a police raid… but it makes things worse! So Clark steals a car from Lex and arranges to fix a race to solve the problem… but makes things worse! That's one of the reasons why Slavkin & Swimmer's episodes work for me, even when their dialogue strays a little toward the cheesy end of the scale, even when there are flaws in the plot overall: they continually raise the stakes to create an exciting, fast-paced hour of television.

This episode did fantastic things with the continuing season and show arcs, too. Again, we get a clear, clear view of just how much the events in "Shattered" and "Asylum" changed Clark and Lex. For the first time, the underlying theme that Clark will have to make ethical and moral decisions that no one else on earth ever will is spoken, and wow, in this episode he failed on a spectacular level. He's still trying desperately to arrange his own moral compass, making decisions based on his own judgment rather than others', and what's more important is that he knew he failed spectacularly. Jonathan's conversation with Clark really nailed home the point that he hadn't made good decisions; Clark's disappointment in himself, for allowing himself to be manipulated out of love for Pete, and the horrific consequences of those actions, was palpable. This was a really nice turn on "Rogue" and the Phalen Conflict: people who know Clark's secret may ask (or force) him to abuse it to their benefit. Clark's still figuring out how grey he can go and still be a good person- this was an absolute low for him, and the repercussions will last far beyond this episode.

In a way, this episode served as Clark's "Zero" moment- he realized in "Velocity" that no matter how much he wants to, no matter how much he cares about someone, he *can't* "do anything to help a friend." It was a gorgeous, subtle contrast to Lex's resolve, because by god, Lex *will* do *anything* to help a friend, and that's where the rift between Lex and Clark absolutely begins. Lex can divorce himself from the bigger consequences as long as the immediate consequences are to his liking; Clark just can't.

Slavkin & Swimmer did a wonderful job showing that for Lex in this episode, too. Lex takes the time to make sure that Clark doesn't want the money for himself then gracefully declines. There was nothing in it for him- Clark may have wanted the money, but he didn't actually *need* it, much the same way that Clark wanted Lex to help with the caves in "Skinwalker." Without an immediate benefit to Lex (either in the form of directly helping Clark, or indirectly helping himself,) Lex has no qualms denying Clark's whims. The especially nice thing about that is that even if Lex didn't have an underlying motivation of refusing to do things that don't benefit him, he actually gave Clark a good moral, ethical reason to refuse: extortionists *do* come back, and throwing money at them doesn't solve the problem.

Building on Lex's new, more self-centric direction after "Asylum," the entire scene with Chloe was a brilliant exercise in strategy. Chloe (perhaps foolishly) continues to share information with Lex, because she thinks he's an ally. Lex continues to take it because she has information he wants, *and* he can control the dissemination of this information. Asking if she'd told Lana was a master stroke- of course he doesn't want her to tell Lana; if she does, Lana might make his new toy go away. That was cold-blooded and brilliant.

As he was likewise, in his dealings with Dr. Tang. The first time Lex yanked someone's life from under them in a bid to control them didn't go so well- Roger Nixon had no real incentive to do what Lex told him to. And the first *two* times Lex offered scientists an incredible research budget, it ended badly because neither Hamilton nor Walden had any incentive to do what Lex told him to. This time, Lex figures out that he needs to exert his force, AND offer incentive: he rips Dr. Tang's life out from under her AND offers her a chance to continue doing her research with certain provisos. Unfortunately, Lex still can't quite claim this as a victory, considering that Dr. Tang was plainly in the employ of one Lionel Luthor in "Phoenix." Lex is getting better at the game, but he still hasn't mastered it because he's unaware of all the variables.

This script told us about Pete and Clark's relationship- how brotherly they have been, the internal rivalry between them, that they do take advantage of each other, and it also told us about Lex and Clark's relationship in beautiful parallel. Pete takes advantage of Clark's abilities; Clark takes advantage of Lex's resources. Lex wants Clark to be honest with him; Clark wants Pete to be loyal to him. The final scenes between both sets of friends hammered that home with a lot of grace. In Pete and Clark's case, things weren't okay: Clark had to set boundaries, and Pete had to own the consequences of his actions. In Lex and Clark's scene, Lex tests just how much evidence he'd need to get Clark to finally give up and admit the truth, and Clark finds out that Lex will let *some* lies expire quietly. This entire episode was about testing the bounds of friendship, and it explored these issues with a lot of depth and subtlety.

Overall, "Velocity" wasn't a particularly *tight* script, in terms of plotting and dialogue, but it was an *effective* script, in that it accomplished a lot of fantastic character and relationship development, within an exciting, brilliantly paced story. It was fast, it was furious, and best of all, it was fun.

Screenwriting: C+
To Watch: A-

Next Week: Citizens of Smallville lock their pet bunnies away, because a psychotic blonde figures out what the rest of the town seems to have missed: Clark's a total hottie.

Note: The views of Hope don't necessarily represent the thoughts and feelings of everyone at KryptonSite.

Return home